Gryffindor Scum, Slytherin Slime
by rei-chan2
Summary: Lauren and Anthony Sinclair, brother and sister at Hogwarts but two very different people. This story shows how each of them learn disturbing things about their pasts, and even their futures. It is full of plot twists and surprises!
1. The Stranger In The Alley

Gryffindor Scum, Slytherin Slime by Rei-chan  
  
  
  
Before we begin...  
  
  
  
This is the story of Anthony and Lauren Sinclair in their first year at Hogwarts. As time goes on they start to take a very different outlook on life. Strange things start happening to them, which changes their lives forever. Will they solve the mysteries appearing now very frequently? Will Anthony ever do well in Potions? Will Lauren have one Charms lesson without storming out? Why did Anthony end up in Gryffindor, and Lauren in Slytherin? Why does Snape treat Lauren better than others? Why do I keep as so many rhetorical questions? If you like Snape, read this!  
  
  
  
Legal stuff: Nearly everything in this story is copyright of JK Rowling and WB, but everythng else that isn't is my own creation - don't steal it! Also, a special thanks to the real Anthony and my other best friend Adam- Lucas for being such wonderful inspiration!  
  
Chapter 1: The Stranger in the Alley: Ms. Sinclair takes Anthony and Lauren to the famous Diagon Alley. Lauren finds that things are beginning to get very strange…  
  
"Wake up! You honestly aren't going to sleep through your first day at Hogwarts are you?" Lauren didn't reply immediately, she just mumbled incoherently and yanked a pillow over her head.  
  
"Five more minutes..." she groaned, listening to Anthony's rhythmic snoring with her eyes closed tightly. It was too early to get up, far too early… Ms. Sinclair then shook Lauren so violently she felt she was going to be sick.  
  
"Stop, stop! I'm awake, I'm awake!" she giggled, pushing the bedclothes back. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she asked, "any luck with the Grand Dozer?" By this she meant Anthony, her older brother, who held the record for being most difficult to wake up.  
  
"Not yet," their mother sighed, "but I have an idea." She placed her fingers into her mouth and whistled shrilly, and in whirlwind of flapping wings and flying feathers, Gabby the small, brown barn owl appeared in the room. He hooted loudly, as if to say hello. Ms. Sinclair signalled to the owl and he fluttered above Anthony. He began pecking repeatedly at his ear, like a woodpecker attacking a tree.  
  
"Owww!" Anthony yelled, as the sharp beak of the owl painfully jerked back and forth into his ear. "Get off me, you twat. I'm up," he said, swatting at the owl as if it were a fly. "Whoever's idea this was, it wasn't very funny," he growled groggily, still sounding half-asleep.  
  
The Sinclairs were a common wizarding family who had lived in Lincoln for many generations. Lincoln was a small unimportant town somewhere between boredom and oblivion. Like many others, the children had lost their father in The Reign of Terror, when they were still very young. Memories of him were at the very edges of their minds; it was a long, long time ago.  
  
Both Lauren and Anthony were now eleven years old. They weren't twins, but there was only a few months between them being born. Anthony had short brown hair, his father's hazel eyes and a round face that always wore a cheeky grin. Anthony was fond of being quite insulting, (especially to teachers) but in a humorous sort of way. If they were in good spirits, they would most likely laugh instead of punishing him.  
  
Lauren was quite a contrast to Anthony. Although her hair was also brown, it was shoulder-length and much darker. It was very high maintenance hair that needed a lot of looking after. Lauren's eyes were ink-blue, and they lacked the happy sparkle of Anthony's. Hers were quite the opposite of happy; cold as ice, she could freeze someone with just as much as a glance. Lauren was a lot more serious than Anthony, and much more melodramatic at times. Anthony had an upbeat attitude towards life. He would always look on the bright side, but Lauren was perpetually pessimistic about things. She was somewhat of a recluse; she kept herself to herself and hardly ever spoke her mind. But if she was provoked, she was known to turn very nasty. As different as they were, they got on amazingly well. Like all your average brother and sister, they did fight at times, but in reality they were very close.  
  
Anthony's mood eventually improved as the owl-alarm-clock prank was gradually forgotten. A few days ago, Anthony and Lauren had received their letters from Hogwarts informing them that they had been accepted into the school. The excitement in the house was building to a high degree as they prepared to leave. After a rushed breakfast, the Sinclairs approached the fireplace, trunks in hand, ready to depart for Diagon Alley.  
  
"Now, you remember what to do, don't you?" Ms. Sinclair asked, scooping a handful of Floo Powder out of a tub. Her children nodded. Coming from a wizarding family, they had travelled via Floo many times. "Have you got everything? We're not coming back home once we get to London, and I haven't time to be owling you all week with spare underpants."  
  
"I'm sure we'll be fine, mother." Lauren replied, smiling calmly, but her mother didn't find this very reassuring. Her kids would forget their heads if they hadn't been conveniently connected to their bodies.  
  
"Okay, if we're all set, let's go!" she stepped towards the fireplace and drew her wand. "Incendio," she commanded, and a roaring fire suddenly began blazing where the empty space used to be. Tossing in the Floo powder, she stated, "Diagon Alley," and confidently stepped in to the fire. With a bright flash and a puff of purple smoke, she was gone.  
  
Anthony followed, but Lauren stayed for a moment to instruct Gabby to fly to the King's Cross Station.  
  
"We'll meet you there," she said, patting the owl on the scruffy feathers that stuck out of its head. Gabby hooted with disappointment, but he knew he couldn't travel by Floo. He flapped his wings hard and took off out the window. As Gabby became nothing more than a tiny speck in the cloudless sky, Lauren shouted "Diagon Alley," at the fireplace and leapt forward. Suddenly she felt as she had been grabbed around the waist by a Giant and had been thrown fifty metres. She landed with a thud, but soon regained her bearings to see the familiar scene of Diagon Alley.  
  
Anthony was stood in front of her, his hands on hips. "Ha! Took your time!" Lauren began to explain how she told Gabby to meet them at the station, but trailed off as she noticed a man pass them by. He was tall, quite slim and wore long black robes that spread out as he strode forward, which gave him the resemblance of a large bat. His hair was shoulder-length and black, it had a certain greasy shine to it like it hadn't been washed for a long time. Lauren knew exactly what that kind of hair was like to try and look after. His eyes were black as coal, cold and piercing, and his thin-lipped mouth wore a sour expression. Apart from being a little scruffy, he was incredibly handsome. She stared at him, awe-struck, watching his every move. He was so suave, so sophisticated. She watched him buy a copy of The Daily Prophet from a street seller and remained looking at him until he was completely out of view.  
  
Anthony waved his hands in front of her eyes. "Hello? Anyone home?" Lauren blinked, tuning back in to the real world. "What were you doing?" he laughed, "You were just standing there with your mouth hanging open like you wanted to catch flies! You looked completely gormless!" Lauren blew a raspberry in to Anthony's stupid laughing face. Ms. Sinclair tutted, shaking her head.  
  
"Now, now children, calm down. What was it you were looking at, Lauren?" Lauren breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't seen the mysterious man.  
  
"Nothing. Didn't you see anything?"  
  
"No, not really. Was there something to look at?" her mother replied, but didn't quite meet Lauren's eyes when she said. She then squeezed Anthony's hand hard, an indication that she wanted him to stop laughing. Lauren shook her head. Her secret was thankfully safe.  
  
With the little incident forgotten, they walked all around Diagon Alley. First stop was Gringotts for their money. Since they had been living in a Muggle city for the past few years, they had to trade in their Muggle money for wizard coins. They entered the large, white marble building and were greeted by a Goblin. After speaking to him for a moment, Ms. Sinclair took her pounds and pennies and changed them for golden Galleons, silver Sickles and bronze Knuts. She handed some pocket money to both Anthony and Lauren, and Anthony swore that she was being unfair and had given Lauren more.  
  
Ms. Sinclair ignored Anthony's protests. "Now, we'll have to go in to the vault to put some off this away." Another Goblin with ridiculously large ears directed them to a cart, and they all clambered in it. Before they knew it, they were all about to lose their breakfast. The cart sped off, fast as lightning, lurching and jumping on every turn. Lauren didn't seem to enjoy the ride but Anthony was having the time of his life. He didn't accompany his family in to the vault to look at the piles of coins; he said he'd rather wait in the cart for the ride back!  
  
After Gringotts, they stopped at Flourish and Blotts for their books, Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions for their uniforms and Ollivander's for their wands. Ms. Sinclair left the kids to get their wands on their own so she could do some shopping alone.  
  
Ollivander's shop was packed wall-to-wall with boxes, most likely containing thousands and thousands of wands. Ms. Sinclair had once told her children that no two wands are ever the same, and Lauren didn't think there were enough combinations of cores and stick materials for that to be true. Mr. Ollivander was an old grey-eyed wizard with a mop of white hair and a wrinkled face.  
  
"Hello there! Here for your wands, I suppose?" he asked, clapping his hands together. Lauren scowled, looking a lot like the strange man in the alley. Of course we're here for our wands, she thought, this is a bloody wand shop!  
  
Mr. Ollivander walked in front of them and cleared his throat, preparing to speak. "A wand is the most important tool of magic. A wand is a wizard's best friend. There are many different wands suited for different kinds of people. Every wand has a different strength to another; for example, one may be good at Charms, while another may be work better with Transfiguration. Wands have their own special area of ability, just like people do. Some are stronger than others. However, there are some very unique and rare wands that prove to be extremely useful in difficult situations. Not only are they good at certain types of spells, but also they have a magical property that cannot be uncovered just by looking at them. These properties include say, navigation skills. Imagine you were lost at night. A navigational wand would help you find your home by making the Lumos spell extra bright, and the Four-Point spell more effective. Some help in dangerous situations, such as being quick off the mark at firing spells. Others may act as a Pocket Sneakoscope for people who need to know who the can and cannot trust. Those are just a few examples of what a wand may be able to do for you. So, who's first?"  
  
Anthony stepped towards Mr. Ollivander to get his measurements taken. Ollivander reached on to his desk and picked up a yellowed tape measure with faded silver markings. "Which is your wand-hand?" Anthony held out his right and Ollivander chatted as he ran the tape measure over it. "So, you are Laura's children then? I remember her wand well. It was lovely strip of beech, about twelve inches, complete with a unicorn tail hair core. I heard it helped her in Charms." He tucked the tape measure in to his jacket pocket and pulled a box down off one of the shelves. "Here, try this for starters. It is seven inches long, crafted from ash, with a mermaid's hair inside. Good for people with small hands, like yourself." Anthony held the wand for a moment while frowning at Mr. Ollivander's comment. He then gave it an artistic flick, causing a box to collapse and a bunch of wands rolled all over the floor. After they stopped firing out clouds of smoke and red- hot sparks, Lauren bent down and gathered them up, placing them back on the shelf. Ollivander sighed. "Dear, dear, that one was no good at all."  
  
Anthony didn't find the wand that was destined to be his partner until the about the seventh suggestion from Ollivander. Exasperated, as the last wand had destroyed yet another pile of boxes, he handed Anthony an oak, feather of Hippogriff, eleven inches. "I thought you might like a slightly bigger one, and this one is also good at Charms," He sighed, bracing himself for anything else to go wrong. Anthony grasped the wand tightly and let a stream of red and gold sparkles flow from the end of it. Ollivander gave a relieved smile as the shimmering orbs filled the room, and Anthony paid his eight Galleons for it.  
  
Next it was Lauren's turn. Hers took a lot longer; she didn't seem to react well with a mahogany, tongue of Salamander, nine inches or a teak, dragon's heartstring, twelve inches. After several choices, they finally came across a willow wand, thirteen inches long complete with the fang of a sea serpent. It was a very curious wand; she hadn't seen many that were as highly decorated as this. Although it was made from willow it was black as soot, and had the image of a large serpent with fish-like fins engraved into it. The blood-red paint used for its eyes seemed to glow in the dim light of the shop. Ollivander took note of her interest in the wand.  
  
"Like I said before, some wands are stronger than others, but this one seems to be prettier than others!" Mr. Ollivander chuckled at his own little joke. "Interesting design, isn't it? An oriental Leviathan, I believe. Great serpents of the sea like that are said to cause tsunamis."  
  
He handed her the wand and as soon as the smooth wood touched her fingers she felt warmth spread down her arm, then to all over her body. Now the shop was filled with her own pink dust. "There you go," Ollivander said, obviously pleased that they would now finally leave the shop, "I thought this one might suit you." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Lauren and lowered his voice. "Now this wand is good for using Curses. It would easily manage Defence against the Dark Arts, or the Dark Arts themselves." He laid a suspicious eye on Lauren as he accepted her ten Galleons, and then added, "Choose wisely."  
  
As they left the shop, they met back up with their mother. She had several new bags in her hand full of supplies for their upcoming Potions lessons. Lauren had always found Potions intriguing; as it was the one of the only branch of magic she could perform before she got her own wand. As a precocious little child, she wanted to show off the fact that she was a witch. Her mother would not let Lauren use her wand, as Lauren was far too young at the time. As a compromise, Ms. Sinclair bought her a dinky toy Potions set and let her tinker around with that. Lauren had then developed an interest for the subject.  
  
Even though she pleaded, Ms. Sinclair would not let her tear the bag open. Lauren moaned but her mother used the 'that's enough of that' look and changed the subject.  
  
"I don't know about you, but I'm quite tired." she said, lifting the mounds of bags she was carrying off the ground. "Why don't we go have a drink in The Leaky Cauldron?" Both Lauren and Anthony agreed on this idea (which was a rare occasion.)  
  
Anthony walked ahead with their mother but Lauren trailed behind. She walked slowly, turning her head to look at the shops. A fancy-looking broomstick caught her attention in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. She read the advertising poster with wide eyes:  
  
The Thundercloud  
  
The fastest broom ever to fly the sky!  
  
Her vision of the poster was quickly obscured by the reflection of a face. It was an old witch with wiry hair and watery eyes. She was staring directly at Lauren, as if she was doing something shameful. No, Lauren thought, it's just the reflection making it look that way. She's probably doing what I am, eyeing up the broom. But she couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling she felt. She looked at the reflection again, the weepy grey eyes looked so sad, so helpless. Lauren took a deep breath and turned around, and there she stood. The witch with the sad eyes, and she was in fact staring at her. However, as soon as she noticed Lauren was looking back at her, she turned away.  
  
She didn't know what, but something about that witch scared her. Lauren instinctively drew out her wand, even though she didn't know any spells that could help her in a dangerous situation. However it was better if her enemies didn't know that, as if they thought she might put up a fight they might back down. The witch's weepy gaze fell on to the wand, and she suddenly leapt back, as if afraid of it. She mouthed something that looked like "She has the wand!" She approached Lauren again, slowly drawing her own wand. It was a rotted piece of wood that was bent at the end, but still looked pretty dangerous in Lauren's eyes.  
  
"The child is evil… must be… destroyed!" The witch stuttered, raising her wand high in the air.  
  
Lauren screamed, "Leave me alone!" She performed the only spell she could think of. Thrusting her wand forward, she shrieked "Avis!" Two small birds streamed out of her wand and flapped into the witch's face. She cried out as the birds pecked at her cheeks and got their talons tangled in her stringy hair. In the confusion of it all, she dropped her wand. Lauren snatched this chance to run for her life, to find her mother and Anthony. She heard the witch call out to an unseen person, but she kept on running. However, even though she continued to run faster she seemed to be getting slower and slower. The world around her became blurry. Colours and shapes blended together, normal faces turned terrifying and they yelled at her the words that stung her mind, "Evil! Evil!" She covered her ears to block out the noise and felt her eyes grow heavy… heavy…  
  
"EXPELLIARMUS!" a voice barked, and almost immediately afterwards there was the sound of a wand bouncing on to the stone paving. "Stupefy," spoke the voice again, this time in an almost mocking tone. Lauren heard the sound of another person's anguish, as he was stunned on the spot. Lauren's arms and legs seemed like they were made of lead, she felt like she had been stunned too. She jumped a little as a long-fingered hand touched her shoulder.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you," spoke the voice, but not in a soothing tone, it was more of a statement of facts. Lauren felt another hand grab around her waist helping her up, but she couldn't stand. "Are you alright?" the voice asked, although it didn't sound at all concerned about whether see was hurt or not. Lauren got the feeling that they only said it because they wanted to make sure she was alive, and if she was, that was fine. Lauren felt herself being lifted up, and her was pressed against their robes. Her rescuer was nice to help her but certainly didn't smell very good. It was a musty, damp sort of smell, a smell most probably gained from their living conditions. She forced her eyes open to see who it was, but her vision was still fuzzy. All she could make out was a blurred black shape that said, "Where are your parents?"  
  
"Uhh…" she felt as if she had a memory lapse, having to search her mind for something that had happened only a few minutes ago. A flood of memories returned to her. "The Leaky Cauldron." She didn't know if had heard her until she recognised the familiar buzz of voices and clinking of glasses that is only found in a pub.  
  
"Lauren!" she heard her mother cry, "What happened?" Her voice was stricken with panic. "I turned around and you weren't there - I was so worried- then I thought you might have gone ahead to The Leaky Cauldron and you weren't here either, oh!" She started to sob bitterly, which prompted Lauren's rescuer to speak.  
  
"Well, Mrs…"  
  
"Miss," she said, sniffing hard, "Miss Sinclair."  
  
"Miss Sinclair," he continued, and to be considerate he lowered his voice. "Your daughter was attacked."  
  
"Oh no! By who?" She began crying harder, but no emotion was shown in her rescuer's voice.  
  
"It was a man with indistinct features, I'm afraid I might not be able to recognise him. I wouldn't worry yourself, though; your daughter has only suffered an Impediment Curse and a Full-Body-Bind. Think yourself lucky that no Unforgivable Curses were involved. Your daughter's injuries are just a minor scratch." Ms. Sinclair ignored his insensitivity, and thanked him a whole lot for his help. She was disappointed that he rejected her offer to buy him a drink (he apparently had business to attend to.)  
  
Anthony helped Lauren on to a chair, although was irritated that their mother wasn't going to punish her for wandering off.  
  
"She's suffered enough already!" she whispered sharply to Anthony while handing Lauren some of his chocolate. She unwrapped it and chewed it gratefully and felt herself calming down. Their mother spent the next few minutes explaining how she had half a mind to take them home right then if it weren't for them starting school that day. In the middle of a sentence, she stopped suddenly, a look of realisation creeping across her face.  
  
"What's up, mum?" asked Anthony, snatching his remaining chocolate away from Lauren.  
  
"Oh, nothing, really. I just remembered who that man was, that's all."  
  
As Lauren's strength started to return to her, Ms. Sinclair decided to pass the time until they had to go to the station, and to get their minds off the attack by telling them about Hogwarts.  
  
"At Hogwarts, there are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. (Anthony spat out some of his drink with laughter as she said 'Hufflepuff.') Our family have been Gryffindors for generations, apart from Uncle Marcus who went to Durmstrang, but that's beside the point. Gryffindors are brave, selfless and heroic. Hufflepuffs are loyal and persevering. Ravenclaws are hard working and intelligent. As for Slytherins, Slytherins are just a little power-hungry and ambitious. Ambition can lead one of two ways, and for most Slytherins, it's the wrong way. Did you know that You-Know-Who came from Slytherin?" She noticed their worried faces, and decided to reassure them. "I wouldn't let it bother you, every member of our family who went to Hogwarts was a Gryffindor, and since family members more often than not go in the same houses, Gryffindors you shall be."  
  
Like it so far? I hope so! Believe me, it gets better!  
  
~Rei 


	2. Vincent Divos

Gryffindor Scum, Slytherin Slime by Rei-chan  
  
  
  
Before we begin...  
  
  
  
This is the story of Anthony and Lauren Sinclair in their first year at Hogwarts. As time goes on they start to take a very different outlook on life. Strange things start happening to them, which changes their lives forever. Will they solve the mysteries appearing now very frequently? Will Anthony ever do well in Potions? Will Lauren have one Charms lesson without storming out? Why did Anthony end up in Gryffindor, and Lauren in Slytherin? Why does Snape treat Lauren better than others? Why do I keep as so many rhetorical questions? If you like Snape, read this!  
  
  
  
Legal stuff: Nearly everything in this story is copyright of JK Rowling and WB, but everythng else that isn't is my own creation - don't steal it! Also, a special thanks to the real Anthony and my other best friend Adam- Lucas for being such wonderful inspiration!  
  
  
  
Chapter 2: Vincent Divos. The Sinclairs arrive at Kings Cross station and Lauren meets a curious Bulgarian boy who is more than a little strange. Soon they will be getting their first views of Hogwarts!  
  
Platform nine was packed with people, mainly Muggles hurrying and pushing around the Sinclairs. It was quite difficult for them to look inconspicuous. Gabby had beaten them to the station and was patiently perching on a sign that read, "Trains may be delayed." He hooted with relief upon seeing them and fluttered on to Lauren's shoulder, digging his talons in as if to say, "what took you so long?"  
  
Anthony rummaged in his pocket and drew out a crumpled sheet of parchment and read it aloud:  
  
"The Hogwarts Express will leave at eleven am from platform nine and three quarters." He looked at the signs hanging overhead, "platform nine, platform ten." He then laid his eyes on the brick wall between the two platforms; he had sussed it. "Platform nine and three-quarters," he said confidently and darted towards the barrier until his mother pulled him back by the collar.  
  
"Anthony! Our owl is attracting enough Muggle attention without you disappearing through a brick wall!" Ms. Sinclair snapped quietly yet sternly, almost choking Anthony to death. She let her children go through one by one when the attention from the crowds was at its minimum, and then found a point to let herself go through.  
  
Platform nine and three-quarters was a much friendlier sight. Several families were clutching owl cages, cat carriers or tiny boxes concealing a rat or a toad. There were many whining children and shouting parents, the typical sight for the first day of school. Lauren wasn't surprised to see so little people wearing robes, as she knew how difficult it would be getting through London with them on without looking suspicious. She assumed they were going to change on the train, like Anthony and she were going to. At the moment she thought the word 'train,' she saw it. The Hogwarts Express, gleaming a fantastic shade of scarlet in the mid-morning sun. Even the clouds of grey smoke billowing out of the chimney looked vaguely magical. The coat of arms was painted on to one of its shining sides. She remarked upon a great golden lion on a red background for Gryffindor, a black badger on yellow for Hufflepuff, a bronze eagle on blue for Ravenclaw and a creepy silver snake on green for Slytherin.  
  
Lauren noticed she was not the only person examining the train. A boy around her age with short jet-black hair and very dark brown eyes was also giving it a good look-over. He was already wearing his school robes. They matched his hair perfectly. There was a lump sticking up in his robes near his leg that she hoped was his wand. She edged towards him, smiling shyly and plucked out the first conversation-starting word that came in to her head.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hi," he replied, giving her a toothy grin.  
  
"You looking forward to going to Hogwarts?" she asked, then wishing she had said something that sounded less pathetic.  
  
"Not really. I wanted to go to Durmstrang, like all my family," he complained, stamping his foot hard on the ground. "But ever since we moved to bloody old England, I have to go to Hogwarts." Lauren looked surprised. This definitely wasn't the kind of answer she was expecting. Examining him a little closer, he didn't look as if he was native to this country.  
  
"So, are you from Bulgaria?" she asked, taking a wild stab in the dark. She was in luck, because it he was in fact from Bulgaria. "You don't sound it!" she added. He nodded.  
  
"I was born in Bulgaria but we moved here when I was quite young, so I've grown up speaking like an English person." After filling her in on his short history, he returned to moaning about Durmstrang; it seemed he hadn't quite finished the first time. "It's so unfair! Why couldn't we move back to Bulgaria? I just have to go to Durmstrang!" Lauren pouted. What a whiner, does he always do this when he doesn't get his own way? For no reason at all, the boy made her very angry. She clenched her fists and felt an urge to yell at him.  
  
"What's wrong with Hogwarts? " she snarled, bearing her teeth. "What's so good about stupid Durmstrang?" His expression immediately changed from sulky to apologetic.  
  
"I... I didn't mean to insult you!" he stammered, and then began to explain his reasons for wanting to go to Durmstrang so badly. "You see, my father is an Auror," He looked down at his shoes and scraped them along the platform. "Um, he's not very famous, so I doubt you've heard of him. I want to be an Auror just like him, and--" he lowered his voice to almost a whisper, "and Durmstrang is a school of the Dark Arts so I need to know what I am up against." At that moment, something in Lauren's pocket began to shake a little. She barely noticed, as it was nothing more than a slight vibration. She assumed it was just a twitch and ignored it.  
  
"Where are my manners?" he said abruptly, as if he had just noticed his parents standing behind him. He held out his hand, gesturing her to shake it. "I'm Divos, Vincent Divos, and you?"  
  
"Sinclair- well one of them- my brother Anthony starts Hogwarts today as well. I'm Lauren." She accepted his hand and shook it vigorously. Searching for a new conversation topic, she chose houses. "What house do you want to be in? Practically all my family are Gryffindors and I hope I don't break the tradition, especially if I end up in something like Slytherin."  
  
"Well, Gryffindor doesn't sound half bad, but if I had it my way I'd be at Durmstrang." Lauren groaned, but decided to try and relate to him.  
  
"My Uncle went to Durmstrang, but he hasn't been heard from since The Reign of Terror." Vincent began to say something but was cut off by a magically projected voice.  
  
"The train will be leaving in a few minutes. All passengers please board as quickly as possible."  
  
"Well, I better go find my mum before she thinks I've been assassinated. Maybe I'll see you at school?" She waved goodbye to Vincent and watched him hug two people she assumed to be his parents. His father had the same jet- black hair, however his grew down to his waist. His eyes were a handsome chestnut brown, not quite as dark as Vincent's. Vincent had definitely inherited most of his appearance from his father. His mother had peroxide blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. Lauren continued to watch the Divos family until she felt a hand grip her shoulder tightly.  
  
"I thought you'd would have learned your lesson about wandering off by now," her own mother said sternly, pointing her finger at her like it was a gun. Lauren could see Anthony making faces at her behind her mother's back. However Ms. Sinclair's face soon lost the strict expression. "Look, I don't want your last memories of me to nasty ones. I won't see you again until the holidays, so until then behave yourself and work hard." She smiled and hugged them both so tightly she practically squeezed the life out of them. As Lauren was in her mother's arms she heard her whisper, "I'll miss you so much, and please Lauren, stay out of trouble." Her bright blue eyes were now glistened with tears. "I worry for you, I know that Hogwarts is one of the safest places there is, but after what happened today, I still..."  
  
"Mum, mum. Don't get emotional on me now. I'll be fine, 'cos no-one messes with Albus Dumbledore!" Lauren pulled Anthony over so that he was standing next to her. "And believe you me. By the time we come back home we will be wizards that make you proud," as her words progressed, her voice became more enthusiastic, "wizards that uphold the family name, wizards that add to the glory of GRYFFINDOR!" Ms. Sinclair didn't approve of the spectacle her daughter was making, but laughed anyway, drying her eyes on the sleeve of her Muggle-clothes.  
  
"I'm glad to see you haven't lost faith in your own abilities. Send me lots of owls, okay?" She gave them one last kiss as they boarded the train, the train that would take them to a completely different life.  
  
Lauren wanted to find where Vincent was sitting, but Anthony had his mind set on other things. He wanted a compartment to themselves so that he didn't have to give away any more of his precious chocolate. As they passed down the train Anthony charged in front while Lauren kept an eye out for Vincent. One compartment was occupied by a group of boys playing Exploding Snap. They had entered at the critical moment of the game and were surprised by a loud bang, and they next thing they knew they were showered in a downpour of cards. The boys did say that they were sorry but their childish grins showed they didn't mean it. Anthony laughed but Lauren held her head high and shoved Anthony towards the entrance next compartment.  
  
Anthony slid the door open but almost immediately slammed it shut again, as several high-pitched screams wailed from the other side. Anthony's face was as red as a Phoenix.  
  
"Some girls were changing in to their robes!" He blushed. "Why don't you go and join them? I'll stay here with the lads and get mine on." For once, Anthony had a good idea. Lauren walked in to the compartment quickly reassuring the girls that she was also female. She crouched down behind a seat out of their view and began taking off her clothes. She carefully placed her wand on the table above her so that it wouldn't get lost. An anorexic-thin girl with immaculate hair leaned over and peered at Lauren's wand. Its red eyes winked menacingly in the light.  
  
"Eww, a snake!" she cringed, her voice shrill and very irritating.  
  
"Yeah, that's like totally gross!" another added, raising a plucked eyebrow. Just what I need, Lauren thought, a carriage full of airheads.  
  
"Excuse me Little Miss Shallow, it's not a snake. You might find that it is a oriental Leviathan," she said matter-of-factly. She grabbed the wand from under their noses and shoved in to her bag along with her Muggle clothes.  
  
"Fine, then it's a big, wet snake then, there's like so much difference," She sniped, turning to her group of cronies who automatically agreed with her. Lauren had seen that type of girl a million times before: more make-up than brains. She a right mind to leave some terrible Curse on them, but soon remembered that she didn't know any. Except for one…  
  
She returned to the previous carriage to find Anthony, also dressed in his school robes, swapping Chocolate Frog cards with a thin, sickly looking boy with scraggy hair. Anthony beckoned her over and she sat between them.  
  
"Hullo! I'm Andrew Finnigan! Are you Anthony's sister? You don't look much like him." Lauren got the idea that Andrew must twitter on like this all the time. He never seemed to shut up, and didn't have many friends as a result of this. "Will you be my friend?" He continued, "Anthony said he would." Anthony gave her a disgusted look that said, "It's a lie! I said no such thing!" Lauren forced a smile at Andrew and nodded understandingly to Anthony, They were both glad to see Andrew dash off to bother the blonde- haired girl opposite them. Lauren gazed out of the window at the countryside and white dots of sheep whizzing past.  
  
"Hey Ant, I met a Bulgarian kid earlier on. Said his dad's an Auror," she said idly.  
  
"Really?" Anthony was a big fan of Dark wizard catchers. He had been ever their father had been by a Death Eater, as this was very common at the time. "What's his dad's name?" he asked, eager to find out more.  
  
"It'll be something Divos, I think," Lauren said lazily, the sight of grass and livestock boring her out of her mind.  
  
"Balithow Divos? He's sent a few to Azkaban, but he's nothing special," he said, as if it was something he talked about every day.  
  
"Then how do you know about him if he's just 'nothing special?' " She stressed. The long journey was making her irritable.  
  
"I read about him in Amazing Aurors You Ought to Know About." That was currently Anthony's favourite book. Even though he had read it five times over, you hardly ever saw him without his nose buried in it. He was obsessed with anything about Aurors, but Lauren couldn't complain. She had the same sort of fascination with Potions, and already owned Magical Drafts and Potions long before she needed it for Hogwarts.  
  
"We'll most likely see Vince again at Hogwarts, so I'm sure you'll get the chance to get his autograph." Lauren said, sneering at him. Anthony opened his mouth ready for a witty comeback but was interrupted by the trolley lady. Anthony bought some more chocolate with a few Knuts and handed a bar to Lauren as if he was calling a truce.  
  
Before they knew it, the train had pulled up to the station and Lauren and Anthony were lost in a sea of students, ranging from first-years that were just their size to gigantic seventh years. They found themselves separated, both of them as desperate as everyone else to get their first view of Hogwarts. Lauren thought that a good Curse might clear a spot like this, but the fact that it was completely unethical didn't cross her mind. She then decided that the best way to get through the crowds was to stick out her elbows and charge. She barged past a group of second years and almost knocked them over. She responded to their angry shouts by looking back and sticking out her tongue, but forgot to look where she was going, and crashed straight in to someone. However this person definitely did not over- balance. He was about the size of two fully-grown men put together, so his mighty bulk just absorbed the blow. Although he appeared terrifying, the smile he beamed at her made him look as gentle as a kitten.  
  
"Whoa, where's the fire? Yer ought to be more careful; yer might've hurt yerself. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Professor of Care of Magical Creatures and Groundskeeper at Hogwarts." He held out a massive hand and Lauren shook it unsurely.  
  
"I'm Lauren Sinclair, a first -year and now I really must find my brother." She began to edge away slowly but he clasped a great hand on her shoulder and stopped her in her tracks.  
  
"Tha' reminds meh, I've gotta do something." He cupped his mouth with his other hand and yelled. His voice boomed over the racket made by all the students. "Firs'-years over here! Firs'-years over here!" He repeated this until a congregation of people had gathered around him. He waited until it looked just about the right size to be all the first years and lead them down a dark and winding path. Everyone had difficultly keeping up with his gigantic strides. In no time at all they arrived at a vast lake. The water was just starting to get choppy as a storm brewed in the distance. Hagrid waited for any stragglers to catch up then turned to them to speak.  
  
"Now I'll be taking yer up to the castle in my boats. No more than four in a boat." He gestured to a small fleet of wooden vessels floating on the rippling waters ahead of them. It was then Lauren caught her first glimpse of Hogwarts. It was like the breathtaking castle out of fairy tales she was told when she was young. As first flakes of snow began to fall on to its many towers and turrets, she fell in love with it. Lauren tore her eyes of the castle to notice Anthony stood next her.  
  
"It's great, isn't it? I can't believe we're actually here!" he piped. The brother and sister both gazed at the Scottish castle with great admiration. Anthony continued, his voice more calm. "I can't believe we're finally here. Together."  
  
Enjoying it so far? You ain't seen nothing yet!  
  
~Rei 


	3. Gryffindors You Shall Be...

Gryffindor Scum, Slytherin Slime by Rei-chan  
  
  
  
Before we begin...  
  
  
  
This is the story of Anthony and Lauren Sinclair in their first year at Hogwarts. As time goes on they start to take a very different outlook on life. Strange things start happening to them, which changes their lives forever. Will they solve the mysteries appearing now very frequently? Will Anthony ever do well in Potions? Will Lauren have one Charms lesson without storming out? Why did Anthony end up in Gryffindor, and Lauren in Slytherin? Why does Snape treat Lauren better than others? Why do I keep as so many rhetorical questions? If you like Snape, read this!  
  
  
  
Legal stuff: Nearly everything in this story is copyright of JK Rowling and WB, but everythng else that isn't is my own creation - don't steal it! Also, a special thanks to the real Anthony and my other best friend Adam- Lucas for being such wonderful inspiration!  
  
  
  
Chapter Three: "Gryffindors you shall be." Anthony and Lauren can't believe they're finally at Hogwarts. Their spirits are high and nothing can bring them down. Until they meet with fate…  
  
The trip to the castle was slow and chilling, as icy cold water lapped up the sides of the magically moving boats and frozen winds beat their faces.  
  
"Alrigh'?" Hagrid bellowed, so he could be heard over the rushing winds and crashing water.  
  
"Yeah, I'm having the time of my life!" Lauren snapped sarcastically. In the boat with Lauren were Anthony, Vince and Andrew. Lauren now understood why Hagrid had his own boat. It was because he took all the space up!  
  
"This is so exciting!" Andrew shouted with so much enthusiasm Lauren and Anthony felt like leaning overboard and throwing up. Lauren leaned as close to Anthony and Vincent as she could without upsetting the balance of the boat.  
  
"I know there could be a better time to do this, but we don't have much choice, do we? Anthony this is Vincent Divos, Vince this Anthony SINCLAIR!" She had to yell at the top of her lungs to make her last words heard, because a vicious wind picked up and drowned out any existing sound.  
  
Time passed without them noticing. Dusk was falling and the sun was beginning to set behind the castle. The light gave it what appeared to be a glowing outline and it appeared more enchanting than ever. The sun stained the sky with its orange and purple streaks. The wind had now calmed to a gentle howl and the snow eased off to a few gentle flakes falling every now and then. Lauren glanced at the reflection of Hogwarts in the rippling waters and smiled to herself. She privately imagined a romantic day, sitting on the edge of the lake, dipping her toes in to the refreshingly cool water, the sun beaming down her...  
  
Her daydream was shattered by Anthony's grinning face. He was staring at her in disbelief, his face screwed up with the effort of stopping himself from laughing.  
  
"Earth to planet Lauren!" he exploded into a fit of giggles, "having a nice daydream?" Lauren punched him gently, annoyed at herself that she let her feelings show so obviously like that.  
  
"Shut it, twit. I was just thinking 'bout something." Anthony's smile grew even more enormous as his mind devised new and more horrible insults.  
  
"Hey, that's twice you've 'zoned out' in one day. Keep doing it and you'll be declared insane. Ooops, I forgot. You already are!" Lauren had her own comeback ready, but before she got a chance to deploy it, Vincent had started on Anthony.  
  
"You leave her alone!" he growled, bearing his fists and launching himself towards Anthony.  
  
"Yer stupid idiot!" Hagrid bellowed, glaring at Vincent, "yer'll capsize th' boat!"  
  
The boat stayed right side up, however it did jerk dangerously towards the left and threw Vincent over board. Droplets of water sprayed the other passengers of the boat as he plunged in to the icy-cold lake.  
  
"Help!" he gurgled, waving his arms madly like a bedraggled bird. This was a bad idea straight away. If he had stopped flapping about he wouldn't have sunk so quickly. Hagrid leaned over the side of his own boat and held out one of his gigantic arms. Grabbing Vincent around the waist, he yanked him out of the lake, showering even more water into the boats. Placing Vincent back in the boat, he muttered something along the lines of, "got no brains, tha' boy, no brains at all." No one dared to say another word. They didn't like the idea of enraging the giant of a man if they could help it.  
  
The boats soon entered a rocky cavern that overlooked the lake and they pulled up to a dingy little dock. The passengers were eager to get a closer look at Hogwarts as they leapt out of the boats  
  
"Everyone here?" Hagrid checked that that number of students roughly matched the count he had taken at the station. Slowly the great oaken doors creaked open as Hagrid gave them a mighty push. As he walked inside the line of children stuck behind him like a shadow. Upon entering the grand entrance hall, they all felt pretty nervous. Few of them had ever been anywhere quite as big as Hogwarts, and had a nagging feeling that getting lost would be very easy. Waiting at the foot of a marble staircase was a teacher whose face was stricter than the faces of all their parents put together.  
  
"Oh hello, Hagrid." She spoke in a very noticeable Scottish accent. Hagrid nodded and she turned to the students. "And these must be the new first- years. Welcome to Hogwarts. I am deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. Before you join the rest of the school for the start of year feast, you must be sorted in to your House." There were murmurs of understanding from all around. "Your House's reputation should be very important to you. You must work hard to gain House Points," she increased the sternness of her voice, "and behave yourself so that you don't lose any. The House with the most points at the end of the term will win the House Cup. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The Sorting Hat will be placed on your head and it will decide which House suits you best." She gestured them towards the great hall where the rest of the school was sat, anxious to see which new students would join their House. She ignored the shouts of "Haggis!" from the cheeky student at the back of the crowd, but shot a sharp glance at him to show that she did hear.  
  
The great hall had five long tables, one for each House and the other for the staff. The light was provided by hundreds of candles, rather eerily, floating above the tables and the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside. Looking upwards fooled you in to thinking you were still outside. Now night had fallen completely, the ceiling was a cloak of black velvet blanketing shining stars. The drone of voices made by the pupils already sat around the hall was silenced by McGonagall placing the hat on a three-legged stool in the centre of the hall. A few voices started murmuring again, saying, "I wonder what its song will be like this year?" However the noise once again died down as the hat opened its mouth-like tear.  
  
"Passed down from many generations  
  
Is a tale from times of yore,  
  
A tale of the Hogwarts founders  
  
Great mages were these wizards four.  
  
These talented people formed the Houses  
  
And you'll find I'm never wrong,  
  
When I look inside your head  
  
I'll see where you belong.  
  
You may well be a Ravenclaw  
  
An intelligent, reliable friend,  
  
Or maybe you're more Hufflepuff,  
  
Loyal to the end.  
  
You may be a young Gryffindor  
  
Bravery is what they do best,  
  
Or might you be a Slytherin?  
  
Who rise above the rest.  
  
So place me on your little head  
  
So I see what you're thinking too,  
  
And from your personality  
  
I'll find the House that best suits you!"  
  
There was some short, polite applause afterwards, and Professor McGonagall commented on how the song had improved since the previous year. As the last remaining sounds of clapping died away she spoke.  
  
"When I call your name out, please step up the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head. When it has finished deciding what House to put you in, return it to the stool and go and sit down. She carefully unravelled a scroll and rattled off the names. Adrian, James found himself in Ravenclaw and Austin, Tara ended up as a Hufflepuff. A few more names passed and Lauren was rather disappointed when Divos, Vincent turned out to be a Slytherin. Vincent came across to her as quite a nice person, but then again, things weren't always what they seem. Super-happy Finnigan, Andrew was a Gryffindor, although it was not surprising. His older brother Seamus was also one.  
  
The inhabitants of the hall eyed the students carefully as they took their turn to be sorted. A loud cheer by their corresponding House would welcome each new first-year. The stream of pupils pacing up to the centre of the hall and then back again dragged along very slowly. There was a new Hufflepuff made, then another Ravenclaw. Lauren was lost in her thoughts until an unusual name caught her attention.  
  
"Malfoy, Belladonna." Lauren could hardly believe that anyone would name their daughter something as horrible as that. But after seeing her she had second thoughts. Maybe it was a good choice after all, as Belladonna looked as vile as her name. Although she had long white-blonde hair, her expression was so revolting it could sour milk. She lifted the hat above her head, and as it hovered there it shrieked "Slytherin" before it even touched a single hair. She sauntered over to the Slytherin table with a triumphant smile and was clapped particularly hard on the back by an older boy. He owned the same white-blonde hair and his was saturated in a bucket load of gel. Now Lauren definitely knew she didn't want to be in Slytherin.  
  
After what seemed an eternity, Lauren though that it must be time for Sinclair, Anthony to be sorted, however, there was one more person first. "Shizumi, Rei." A girl with a lot of ginger hair moved towards the Sorting Hat, looking very irritated. She slumped onto the stool and placed the hat on her head, and was quickly sorted into Gryffindor. As Rei took her seat, Lauren listened to Professor McGonagall say her brother's name. Lauren mouthed a "good luck" to him as he confidently strutted up to the stool bearing the hat. He slipped the Sorting Hat on his head and sat on the stool, swinging his legs. The hat took a little while before it said anything. It appeared to be deciding where to put Lauren's loud, rude mischievous brother. However, the Sorting Hat had other views of Anthony, as it must have picked up in his more commendable qualities. He did have tremendous courage. He did have a passion for justice in the world. He did care about other people, even when on the surface it appeared he didn't. Lauren swallowed hard. Did she have what it takes to get in to a house like Gryffindor?  
  
Anthony obviously possessed the makings of a Gryffindor, as the Sorting Hat eventually erupted a hearty "GRYFFINDOR!" Anthony marched proudly up to the Gryffindor table and happily received the handshakes and cheers from his fellow housemates.  
  
"I knew it all along!" he sneered, although he wore a faint look of relief on his face. Lauren knew exactly what was coming next. Her stomach tied itself in a knot as Professor McGonagall stated, "Sinclair, Lauren." She edged uncomfortably towards the stool with her legs feeling like jelly. What would that hat see in her head? I won't know unless I try it on, she thought to herself. She pulled it over her hair and listened attentively, anxious to find out the hat's decision. She felt it shift slightly on top of her head. Slowly it began to speak but in such a low tone Lauren had to concentrate hard to catch its words.  
  
'"Hmm, let's see..." It rubbed what would be its lips together in thought. "Now, you've got plenty of courage like your brother, but you're just not Gryffindor material." Lauren's heart sank into her stomach, and was temporarily grateful that the brim of the hat covered her face so no one could see her horrified expression. The hat continued. "I suppose you are quite intelligent, but you're no Ravenclaw either." She felt a new sense of foreboding build up inside as it dawned on her what the hat was uncovering from her memories. Images formed in her head of Mr. Ollivander giving her the suspicious eye, and of the weepy-faced old witch. Lauren gasped silently as she recalled what the witch had said to her. The hat interpreted Lauren's worried thoughts. "Evil?" It chuckled to itself, as if enjoying a private joke. It said no more on that matter and carried on with her personality review. "Ambitious young one aren't you?" it whispered smoothly, "oooh but with such a temper. You let your nasty side get the better of you too often. A Dark Wizard in the making, perhaps." It gave one last disturbing chuckle before delivering the heart-breaking decision to the impatiently waiting onlookers. "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
Lauren tore the hat of her head and thrust it back on the stool, her eyes burning fiercely. She could have shredded the Sorting Hat into hundreds of little pieces and burned them right there and then. She suddenly realised that this was just the kind of attitude that the hat was referring to. Lauren watched her robe sadly as the collar and cuffs turned a sickening green, and then proceeded to the Slytherin table in the same manner as prisoners advancing to their execution. Was she really the Dark Wizard type? Her rage had quickly subsided and she now felt depressed. All she wanted to do was crawl into a corner and die quietly.  
  
"Hey, young Slytherin, why the long face?" inquired the blonde boy, shaking her hand roughly. "You're not disappointed about being in Slytherin, are you? I don't believe it, it's by far the best house! The most talented and unique people are always in Slytherin. It's a shame that it's so misunderstood. But mark my words, you will enjoy being in Slytherin." Shaking her hand once more he added, "by the way, I'm Draco Malfoy. I know you're Lauren Sinclair 'cos of the sorting." He turned and pointed towards the revolting blonde girl she saw earlier. She was making her move on Vincent but Vincent didn't look at all impressed. "You might've seen my sister being sorted as well." Draco continued. "She's Belladonna Malfoy, or just Donna for short. You're both first years, you might get on well." Lauren didn't think there was a slight chance of that. However if she was a boy and as good looking as Draco, she might have reconsidered!  
  
"I heard you talking about houses," Donna said, shuffling over to Lauren and Draco. "You wanna know what I think? I reckon that "Gryffindors are reckless risk-takers with no regards for rules, Ravenclaws are nerds and they swot up to become teacher's pets. As for Hufflepuffs, well it's all in the name. So you see, Slytherins are definitely the most talented, ambitious, determined wizards there are."  
  
"Well said, Donna," Draco replied as the two Malfoys took their seats. Lauren tuned out as the new Prefects were announced. She didn't know any seventh-years, so she quite frankly didn't care. Afterwards, she tried to make her way over to Vincent but was stopped in her tracks by a teacher standing up and raising his hand for silence. She caught Anthony's attention and smiled at him. They both recognised him to be Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. He was an aged wizard with lengthy white hair and an even longer beard. His friendly eyes twinkled behind half- moon spectacles as he began to speak.  
  
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I'm afraid I'm going to do the announcements before the feast this time." He focused his eye on all the students before continuing. " I know how bad that is for most of you, and I sympathize wholeheartedly. I am just as hungry as you are." There was some light laughter as he paused to take a breath. "First, some good news. The new Quidditch pitch has now been finished." He allowed time for the students to cheer in gratitude. He waited for them to calm down before carrying on. "As you know, due to last term's 'little incident,' the Slytherins needed a new common room. I would like to inform you that they now have one!" The entire Slytherin table exploded into ecstatic shouts that, quite surprisingly, exceeded the volume of cheers that the Quidditch news received. "Your Prefects will guide you to the new room, however it is not all that far away from the old one. Unfortunately, as with all good news comes bad news, and right now there is a lot of it. This year, certain parts of the school are off-limits. These include the old Quidditch pitch and the corridors that house the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff common rooms. So this means that Gryffindors will be sharing the Slytherin common room and dormitories and Hufflepuff will move in with Ravenclaw. This piece of news sparked off a roar of angry voices, mainly from the Slytherin table.  
  
Dumbledore's wand emitted a tremendous bang and the room fell silent once more. "I know that it is a little strange, but you will have to bear with us. Could I remind you that similar situations have happened in the past, many places have been restricted." He paused for a moment and sighed. "It is useless telling you to obey this new rule, as the majority of you will do exactly the opposite of what I say. So, this is what I will tell you. Please disobey this rule. Please enter all the restricted areas. Please receive the pleasure of an early grave." On the last few words of his sentence, Dumbledore changed the severity of his voice. No one laughed this time, as it was sometimes quite hard to differentiate Dumbledore joking from Dumbledore being serious. Dumbledore raised his goblet high in the air. "Here's to another successful year at Hogwarts." Everyone held up their glasses as well and the room echoed with the word "cheers!"  
  
Lauren watched the gold plate in front of her magically fill up with food but she didn't feel like eating. She had quickly lost her appetite when the Sorting Ceremony had taken an unexpected and twisted turn. She gazed longingly at the Gryffindor table. Anthony was getting on very well with the boys they had seen on the train, it turned out that they were Gryffindors after all. He looked so delighted, laughing and smiling at the words they were whispering into his ears, not a care in the world. The whole room was filled with the sound of happy conversation. Lauren turned to look at Vincent from across the table. Even he was pleased with the results of the Sorting. It wasn't Durmstrang, but at least he could now keep an eye on the Dark Wizards developing in Slytherin. Lauren shuddered at the thought. She wasn't a Dark Wizard, was she? In her mind she pleaded for someone to pinch her and end this nightmare.  
  
"Not hungry?" Draco asked, interrupting her trail of thoughts. Lauren was glad he didn't give her a chance to answer; talking was something she really wasn't up for right then. "I'm not surprised. I sometimes lose my appetite thinking that all this food is prepared by disgusting house-elves. Just one thought of those filthy creatures touching the mashed potato is enough to put anyone off eating." Lauren didn't know what he had against house-elves, but was beginning to get the idea that Draco was rather pompous and all-talk and not much else. He must like hearing the sound of his own voice, she thought, wishing he would go away. She was in luck, because he decided to go and bother his sister instead.  
  
After the banquet, the plates magically cleared themselves away. All Lauren wanted to do was curl up under the covers of her bed and never come out, but she had to wait. Dumbledore had rose to his feet and signalled for quiet once more.  
  
"Now that we have all ate and drank our fill, let us sing the school song." This was a tradition that everyone (all except Dumbledore) thought the school could do without. All the people in the hall were to sing the same words at the same time but to their favourite tune. Lauren enjoyed singing but right now she wasn't at all in the mood. Soon hundreds of voices began bellowing the words to the song and it sounded absolutely atrocious. Lauren wasn't bothered with joining in the song so she just mouthed the words to make it appear as that she was singing.  
  
When start of year gathering had finally finished, Lauren found out that she wasn't the only person who was glad that it was over. There was an unexpected rush of students wanting to get to their dormitories. Two Gryffindor and Slytherin Prefects lead the two houses down the winding stairs to the dungeon. Lauren overheard a couple of first-years discussing the fact of the Headmaster being a complete nutcase, and also heard the ginger-haired girl complaining loudly to anyone who would listen that Professor McGonagall pronounced her name wrong.  
  
"She said it completely wrong! She said 'Rye,' my name's pronounced 'Ray!' Some people just can't read!"  
  
Anthony elbowed his way through the line of students to see Lauren.  
  
"It's funny, huh? I never thought you'd be a Slytherin!" he said, sounding genuinely surprised.  
  
"Yeah, it's bloody hilarious," she said darkly. Anthony quickly caught on that this was not a subject he should make conversation on.  
  
"I got a good look at all of the teachers. There's a really, really short one. Seriously, you must see him. He's got to be a Dwarf or something. There's another who looks about twice as old as our grandma, and the long haired prat with a big nose we saw before." Lauren was consumed with the heavy cloud of sadness over her to be bothered with what Anthony was nattering on about and, didn't catch a word of it.  
  
"Really? I didn't look at any of the teachers," she replied with false interest.  
  
The Prefects showed them around the common room before sending them to bed. It had quite a spooky feel as the lighting has a slight green tint to it. There were new, squashy green armchairs that were so comfortable that Gryffindor Prefect said that they could rival the ones in their own common room. Apart from the odd table, that was the only furniture. In the middle of the east wall was a grand fireplace, decorated with the Slytherin Crest. The student's exploring of the common room was cut short because Andrew Finnigan yawned enormously, and that triggered the goody-goody Gryffindor Prefect to shoo them off to bed.  
  
Lauren quickly changed into her pyjamas and clambered on to her four-poster bed. It was very soft, much to her liking. She lay there with her eyes open, staring at the roof of her bed and listened to the other girls in her dorm, one by one, gently drifting off to sleep. She knew that five of the girls were Donna Malfoy, (who turned out to be an extremely loud snorer) Jodie Beaumont, Emma Saunders and Natalie Hayward, the clueless trio she had met on the train and Rei Shizumi, the girl with the awkward name.  
  
Sleep took a long time coming to Lauren, even though she was exhausted. For quite a while she lay awake listening to Donna's rattling snores, trying to get her mind off the events of the day. When she eventually nodded off, she was troubled by nightmares. She dreamt that Mr. Ollivander and the watery- eyed witch were chasing her. Lauren suddenly ran into a giant Sorting Hat that spat out hundreds of Slytherin snakes. They coiled around her neck and began squeezing tightly, to a point where she was gasping for breath.  
  
Lauren woke up with a start in a cold sweat. She had to think for a moment to remember where she was. She then heard Donna snort in her sleep and memories rushed back to her, horrible memories.  
  
"I want to go home," she whimpered quietly to herself, on the verge of tears. She buried her face in her pillow and began to sob. "Am I the only unhappy person in the school?"  
  
She wasn't.  
  
"Another year, another load of dimwits to force-feed knowledge to." The Potions Master grimaced at the thought of his beautiful dungeon being full of noisy eleven-year-olds, spilling vials on his newly polished floor, splattering frog guts and other atrocities on his recently scrubbed ceiling. He paced over to his shelves and straightened a jar of Aconite that was on the brink of falling off. "I swear, there must be a pixie somewhere whose sole purpose is to fiddle with my jars!" he muttered to himself. The Professor caught himself in the mirror as he passed it. He put on his best student-terrorising scowl and chuckled maliciously. "Severus, you are fearsome."  
  
Professor Snape had a reputation of being the hardest, nastiest and most unfair teacher in the entire school and had his mind set on keeping it that way. He browsed over his timetable and lesson plan for the following day. He had the new first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors in the first period. He knew exactly what kind of an impression he was going to make on them.  
  
Snape slumped onto his rather lumpy bed, his long black hair spreading in all directions. He heaved a heavy sigh. Once again he had missed out on the Defence Against The Dark Arts job because Dumbledore insisted on giving this Reeves person a chance. He had met him in Diagon Alley earlier that day. Alorm Reeves was a friendly-looking fellow with a nice personality. Snape predicted that the students would take advantage of this if he didn't change his attitude quickly.  
  
The Professor suddenly had the nagging feeling that he had forgotten to do something. Returning his gaze to tomorrow's timetable he realised what it was. He shoved a hand under his bed and retrieved a roll of parchment. Taking a quill from his pocket, he fumbled around on the floor for a bottle of ink. "I know there's one around here somewhere, I saw it the only the other day," he growled. "It's that damned poltergeist again, I just know it! I must remember to inform the Bloody Baron about his behaviour," he said slyly. His fingers then touched a smooth, round glass object. He closed his fingers around it and hauled it onto the bed. "Found it!" he said triumphantly. He knew that it would have been much easier just to get up and look for it, but it was really late and he couldn't be bothered.  
  
Snape unrolled the parchment and chewed at the feathery end of his quill. He knew that it was a bad habit, but he just couldn't seem to shake it off. After applying a little ink to it, he began to write in his usual scruffy scrawl.  
  
"Dear Laura."  
  
Nice ending to the chapter, don't you think? You know who Laura is, right? Have you been paying attention? Just to let you know, this is a work in progress, so I might tweak chapters a little if I see fit. Also, I'll try and have chapters 4 & 5 up asap.  
  
~Rei 


	4. Laughter and Tears

Gryffindor Scum, Slytherin Slime by Rei-chan  
  
  
  
If you want a disclaimer, see the previous chapters because to be quite honest, I can't be bothered to put it on each time.  
  
NB: If you have difficulty understanding Professor Revees, try swapping the 'Ws' in his words for 'Rs' (Not that I'm suggesting you're stupid, or anything but you never know…)  
  
Chapter 4: Laughter and Tears: Lessons start for Anthony and Lauren, and they meet Professor Snape, Revees and Flitwick. They each discover which teachers they are keen on and where their talents lie.  
  
Dawn's first rays of sunshine peeked through the curtains and drew lines on Lauren's face. She was awake, and had been for the past few hours. She knew that she would probably be nodding off all throughout her first classes, but she couldn't help it. Lauren had had a very rough night. She fell forward into her pillow, which was now streaked with dried tears and snot. She felt so tired, she screwed up her eyes and tried to snooze for at least of few minutes, but had little success. Donna was still snoring away like an engine, and Lauren was ready to strangle her.  
  
She had never felt so depressed in her entire life. Back in the days of Muggle School, her only worries were forgetting her PE kit or having to stay in at lunchtime to clean the white board. She never imagined that one day she would be under great stress because she might be a Dark Wizard.  
  
Yawning loudly, she slid off the end of her bed and threw on her robes. Seeing that her first lesson was Potions slightly raised her spirits; she now had something to look forward to. She made her way to the hall, clutching her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions under her arm.  
  
The Great Hall was almost completely deserted, all except for a few Quidditch players getting ready for an early practice session. Lauren had no interest in Quidditch whatsoever. She had little talent in Muggle sports, so she would probably fail at wizarding ones as well. She fetched herself a bowl of Corn Flakes and munched her way through it slowly, as she was one of those few people who liked it better when the milk makes the cereal all soggy.  
  
Quite a while later, the hall began to fill up with people. Lauren was engulfed in her book, so she didn't notice until Anthony tapped her on the back.  
  
"Hey, stop swotting up for the first lesson! How long have you been up?" he asked, removing the book from her hands.  
  
"Longer than you'd imagine," she replied irritably, wrenching the book out of his grasp. He shrugged and went to sit at the Gryffindor table. Lauren then noticed there was suddenly a lot of commotion coming from his direction. Apparently, Anthony had flicked his cauldron-stirrer at Andy Finnigan, and Vincent took a seat next to Lauren, laughing hard.  
  
"You should have seen that! Andrew ducked just before it hit him and it landed right in our House Master's bowl of cereal! Hilarious!" he whooped, doubling up with laughter. "It's a good thing Snape didn't see who did it; they'd be dead by now! There's milk all over his robes!" Lauren wasn't really bothered if Anthony got in trouble or not. Right then, she didn't care much about anything. Vincent remarked on the book she was reading.  
  
"Yep, and we've got Potions with Snape next." He said, calming down a little. "What a treat." Lauren couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not, so she asked him to explain. "Haven't you heard? Snape's supposed to be the meanest teacher in the school, and with cereal thing he'll be extra-sour this morning. He might even pick on us Slytherins." Lauren didn't reply. She simply carried on reading until it was time to go for lessons.  
  
"It's awfully dark down here."  
  
"What's the matter? Scared?"  
  
"Oh shut up, and keep walking or we'll be late." Anthony and Lauren walked into the cold, dank dungeon, prepared for their first Potions lesson. The dungeon had a strangely familiar damp, musty smell to it. It was dimly lit by a few candles fixed to walls, and there was a pleasant sound of trickling water from a stone basin at the back. There were several shelves occupied by curious and creepy looking things in jars.  
  
"Come in, come in!" spoke a brusque voice that Lauren had heard before. They looked towards the speaker, and Lauren couldn't help grinning. The handsome stranger in the alley was her Potions Master? It's a small world, she thought.  
  
"Hello Lauren. Are you alright now?" he asked while frowning at Anthony out of the corner of his eye. Lauren looked blank. She wasn't quite sure of what he meant, or how he knew her name but she decided to be polite.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Snape opened his mouth to say something else to her but stopped when his dark eyes fell on Anthony.  
  
"I don't believe that this conversation includes you, so I suggest you take a seat. Now!" Anthony edged towards his Gryffindor pals at the back of the classroom but Snape was too quick for him. He directed Anthony to a table that was conveniently just in front of his own desk. Lauren wanted to sit with Vincent, but at the same time she didn't want Anthony to be on his own. She sank into the seat next to Anthony and watched in disgust as Donna Malfoy filled the empty one next to Vincent.  
  
Snape launched the lesson by taking the register. His beetle-black eyes darted quickly down the list of names as he called them out. It seemed that the incident at breakfast did have an effect on him, as several unlucky students found Snape adding his own little comment after calling their name, which were not always very complementing. For example, when he got down to Vincent Divos, he informed the class that he taught another boy also by the name of Vincent.  
  
"I do hope that you have a little more sense than he does." He began, glaring at Vince, his hands resting firmly on his desk. "He gives me the impression that all people named Vincent are imbeciles. And just by looking at you, I am beginning to think there might be a grain of truth in that statement." He smiled mercilessly as he watched Vincent clench his fists in anger.  
  
A little further down the register came another student that raised his interest. "Belladonna Malfoy? Might I say, what a charming name," he said silkily, making it blatantly obvious that he was being sarcastic. He continued, his voice becoming more spiteful with every word. "Oh joy. I get to teach two Malfoys in one day. Aren't I the lucky one? And if you are anything like your brother, you will probably see him in detention. We could have a little Malfoy family reunion. Now wouldn't that be grand?" Donna's face grew redder and redder. She had to be restrained by Vince to stop her from smacking Snape right in his mocking face. Several people began to laugh, until Snape added, "If anyone would like to laugh at Miss Malfoy, I would be more than happy to let you do so in detention. In silence." Nobody was making a sound now. They had all got the message that Professor Snape wasn't a man to cross. He was definitely not the kindest teacher of the lot, and certainly wasn't afraid to issue detentions. The only noise in the dungeon now was Donna Malfoy furiously whispering very unflattering comments about Snape into Vincent's ear.  
  
Soon he came across the Sinclair's names. He spat out Anthony's name as if it was some horrible poison on the end of his tongue. Fortunately, he didn't make a comment on Anthony, he just gave him a piercing look as if to say, "you'll have to do a lot to impress me, worm breath." It appeared that Snape had a profound dislike for Anthony, most likely because he was a Gryffindor. However, the Professor's penetrating glare softened as he read the next name. "Ah yes, Lauren. It's very interesting that you ended up in Slytherin," he said, sounding rather distant, "very interesting indeed." The penny had finally dropped and Lauren felt the truth hit her like a ton of bricks. All the pieces fell together like a jigsaw in her mind. Professor Snape was the one who rescued her from the mad witch! It all seemed so obvious now.  
  
As the lesson progressed, Professor Snape became an idol in her eyes. As well as the newfound respect she held for him since he was the one who had rescued her, she adored him for other reasons. Lauren was fond of him as one is fond of an older brother, or a favourite uncle. He never ceased to impress her. She didn't know anyone else who had such a natural flair for insulting people. She loved his wry sense of humour, and the fact that he was unafraid to bully his students. Snape had a habit of winding a pupil up to provoke them into something he could punish them really harshly for.  
  
Snape stalked the dungeon as if it was his hunting grounds and the students were his prey. He introduced the lesson in a low voice. "For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of meeting me before, I am Professor Snape, the Potions Master. This is your first Potions lesson; here I can teach you the simple but fascinating art of brewing magical liquids that can heal the sick, or even kill the hated... So watch your step if you know what's good for you." Lauren was on the edge of her seat, hanging onto every word as if it was a passage from the Bible. He continued, his voice growing icy. "Of course, you could be a bunch lack-brained twits like most of the classes I have to teach."  
  
The Potions Master swept back to the front of the dungeon and took his seat. "However," he continued, "I would be much happier if Dumbledore gave the position of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to someone closer to home, as once again, he has scraped bottom to fill the vacancy. This school has had its share of unpleasant teachers who haven't lasted more than a year." He folded his arms and scowled. A shy voice from the left hand side of the classroom questioned what was wrong with them. Surprisingly, Snape didn't bite their head off for speaking without putting their hand in the air. He simply answered the question. "Well, Hogwarts have experienced teachers who have turned out to be an impostor, a Werewolf, an incompetent fool who had no experience in the Dark Arts and--" he purposely left a small dramatic pause, "Lord Voldemort himself." He watched practically the entire class flinch at the mention of the name with great pleasure. "Nasty thought, is it not? But I digress. I have wasted too much time talking about this when we should be doing work. If you want to know anything else about previous teachers, read Hogwarts: A Revised History, or speak with Professor Binns."  
  
Within a few minutes, everyone had set up his or her cauldron. Anthony had found an interesting shiny substance on the desk and dropped it into his cauldron, to add a little decoration to it. Snape observed him doing this, his thin lips curling into a twisted smile. "Those of you putting glitter into your cauldrons will have a little surprise. Today, we are drinking our potions." Apparently, the glitter was there because of a prank played on Snape by a couple of jokester twins. They had bewitched the desks to periodically spew glitter into the air. Lauren found this rather amusing. If it were Lauren, she would have made it spew up horse dung or something revolting like that. "Blasted stuff!" Snape growled, "If I wanted my desks to look like kindergarten artwork, I would have made them that way!" He angrily brushed some blue sparkles out of his greasy hair and destroyed them with his wand. Lauren now understood why they had chosen glitter. What a great idea!  
  
The agenda for the lesson was to make a Poliwango Potion. No one knew what Poliwango meant, but they did think it was a funny word. Professor Snape tutted and informed them that they were all very immature. "The Poliwango Potion is a simple happiness Potion and we will all be testing them to see if they work." Lauren thought this was a good idea. Maybe she could get a decent night's sleep if she drank a gallon of it.  
  
Professor Snape handed a jar of yellow powder to Lauren and passed a few others around the room. "Can anyone tell me what this is?" he asked, although not expecting much response. Lauren shot her hand up in the air and he looked relieved. "It's good to see that someone has a brain in here. What is it then?"  
  
"Um, powdered Lemon Grass, I think." She replied, feeling a little nervous. He either didn't realise or just ignored the fact that the jar was labelled with the name of the substance.  
  
"Very good. A point to Slytherin for your knowledge of ingredients, Lauren." Lauren smiled proudly at Anthony and he muttered, "Bloody cheat," under his breath.  
  
Snape chose Lauren's cauldron to demonstrate how much of each ingredient to put in the mixture. He gently tipped a few lumps of yellow and green powder into her cauldron and instructed the others to do the same in theirs.  
  
"Once you have added all the ingredients, stir it well with a cauldron- stirrer." Snape's eyes instinctively fell on Anthony, as if having a sixth- sense for mischief. "Does anyone not have a cauldron-stirrer?" Anthony nodded guiltily. Snape handed him one, which was, not surprisingly, the one, which was in his cereal that morning. It smelt faintly of milk.  
  
The class brewed their potions carefully, making sure that the precise amounts of ingredients went in. Lauren couldn't help noticing Snape shooting very condescending looks at Anthony. The potions were bright green in colour and fizzed violently. When the Potions were properly stirred, Snape swept around the dungeon sampling a few and usually criticising them. The class didn't find it surprising that no matter how many pupils' potions he drank, his mood did not improve at all. It would take a pretty strong dose to wipe the frown from Snape's face! Anthony secretly cursed himself for not slipping poison into his concoction as Snape took a swig from his cauldron. Anthony waited impatiently for his verdict.  
  
"Good." he said, obviously disappointed that he couldn't tell Anthony off for doing it wrong, but soon added, "If I were teaching a Muggle." Anthony mumbled something insulting and dipped a finger into his potion, then stuck it in his mouth. It had a sharp flavour and made him rock back and forth on his chair, giggling insanely. "That's enough of that!" snapped Professor Snape. He knocked Anthony on the head with his wand, much harder than necessary and removed the effects of the potion. He then sipped some of Lauren's. "Hmm, very good, but a little on the weak side." He poured a drop more of oil of Lima Weed into the bubbling cauldron and tried it again. "Better," he said, "why don't you try it?" Lauren looked at the murky green, viscous liquid and shook her head.  
  
"Err, no thanks." She replied, almost choking from the smell of if it.  
  
"Go on, have some." He said persuasively, holding the ladle towards her.  
  
"No, no. I really don't want…"  
  
"DRINK IT!" he snarled, forcing the ladle into her hands, his black eyes glaring icily into hers. Lauren blinked. She never imagined that he could be this scary. Nervously, she took a deep breath and held the ladle up her lips. The potion tickled her throat as it went down. In her opinion, it was quite the opposite of weak. It was so strong she had to cough. She soon felt the effects of the Poliwango kicking in. She no longer felt upset about being a Slytherin; in fact, she liked it. The thought about her being a Dark Wizard was now laughable. She felt happy, not enough to giggle like a small child, just content. Snape shot her a quick smile before returning to his desk.  
  
"Right," he said, unrolling a parchment, "Homework." The dungeon echoed with a collective groan. "I want you to find the following ingredients for next lesson: Danos leaves, Blast-ended Skrewt blood, Twine weed -why aren't you copying this down? - And smoothed Willow berries." A few people scrabbled about for some parchment, and soon there was the familiar scritch- scratch sound as they scribbled down his words with their quills. Anthony grinned at his writing, as it read: "I want you to find the following ingredients for next lesson danos leaves blast ended skrewt blood twine weed why aren't you copying this down and smoothed willow berries." Fortunately, Snape didn't spot this little joke. Snape dismissed the class quickly and fell back into his chair, shunning the thought of his next class.  
  
Lauren walked briskly towards her next lesson. She liked the sound of Defence Against the Dark Arts, as she would soon be learning how to do such curses as the full-body bind. She sniggered to herself as she imagined Anthony writhing helplessly on the common room floor, unable to fight back.  
  
"Gosh, wasn't Snape in a rotten mood this morning?" Lauren heard Vincent ask from behind her.  
  
"Yeah, even picking on us Slytherins! Now that's just not right!" moaned Donna, obviously still unhappy about Snape mocking the Malfoys.  
  
"Lauren!" Anthony hollered to her over the crowds of people swarming the corridor. "Over here!" She decided to catch up with Vincent later and elbowed her way over to Anthony to find that he was ready to explode with rage. "That Snape is such a pain! Who does he think he is, giving us truckload of homework on the first day?" Lauren put her face on autopilot while her mind ran off somewhere else. "And what has he got against me? Why does Snape hate me so much?" An older lad with untidy black hair and emerald-green eyes shining from behind round glasses smiled at them as he passed.  
  
"Did he have a grudge against your father and now he's taking it out on you? He's notorious for that, you know, but don't let him get to you." The boy smiled before catching up with another boy about his age with flaming red hair. Anthony and Lauren shrugged their shoulders and continued in their own direction.  
  
"I don't know what your problem is with him, Anthony, I think he's really nice." Lauren said, watching Anthony get more and more annoyed.  
  
"Maybe to you, 'cos you're a stupid Slytherin!" Anthony went ahead in a huff and left Lauren to her own devices. Did Snape treat her better than Anthony just because she was a Slytherin? If that were so, why did he snipe at the other Slytherins that morning? It was all too confusing, so she filled her head with thoughts of Defence Against the Dark Arts and entered the classroom.  
  
The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom was a sight for sore eyes after the long gloomy hour spent in the cold dungeons. The class were greeted by Professor Revees, a round-faced character dressed in sunshine yellow robes. He had blonde-brown hair that stuck up in short spikes like the end of a broom. The pupils seated themselves around the room and as Lauren joined Anthony at the front of the of the class she noticed a large poster stapled above Revees' desk. It showed a brightly coloured rainbow, complete with the words, "Be happy." The Professor clasped his hands together and gave them a warm, friendly smile that spread across his face for about a mile.  
  
"Good mowning class, I am Professow Wevees." He had a rather amusing speech impediment, not much different to the one Elmer Fudd is famous for. All his 'Rs' sounded like 'Ws,' and more often than not it was almost impossible to comprehend what he was saying. His voice echoed his appearance perfectly, and the only word that Lauren could think of to describe them both was, 'cute.'  
  
After some muffled laughter and private jokes, the class chimed their rather unenthusiastic response.  
  
"Good morning, Professor Wevees." This made Revees shake his head and snigger some.  
  
"No, no, no. It's Professow W-w-we-vees." He made an effort to form his words differently but the just came out the same.  
  
  
  
"Good morning, Professor Wevees." The children replied, sounding very sarcastic. This cycle continued for a few minutes, much to the pupil's enjoyment, but Revees just became more flustered the longer it went on. Not a good start for his first day, thought Lauren. The poor fellow was trying tremendously hard to make a good impression, but it was hard for the class to not laugh at him. He finally managed to get the children to pronounce his name correctly when he chalked it onto the board in six-inch high lettering.  
  
"R-E-V-E-E-S. Wevees," he stated clearly, although he made the first 'R' sound like it had a 'w' on the end. The class let out a collective "ohhhh" and satisfied him by greeting him properly. "Now you all know my name," Revees continued, "let's find out youws." He returned to his desk and began taking the register. Unlike Snape, he didn't make any cynical comments about anyone whatsoever.  
  
As Revees began his introduction to the lesson, it was hard to believe that it was the same friendly little man who had spoken to them a few moments ago. His face had lost the cheery smile; it was now much more focused. "As you know, I am hewe to teach you Defence Against the Dawk Awts." His voice was very firm and serious, and the class fell silent at once. "The Dawk Awts can be vewy scawy, but I can teach you to ovewcome youw feaws. I can teach you how to blast a Bogawt, destwoy a Dementow or pawalyse a Pixie." The class were on the edge of their seats, enthralled by his every word. After finishing this small introduction, Revees' voice slipped back to its usual squeak. "On the subject of feaw, next lesson we awe going to do something wather fwightening, so come pwepared. But wight now I am going to teach you an extwemly useful jinx that can get you out of the tightest spots." He paced over to the blackboard, swishing his robes as he went. Grabbing some chalk, he printed the word "FLIPENDO" in large white letters. He turned back to the class and wiped his chalky fingers on his robes, leaving white smudges down them. "Flipendo is a knockback Jinx that has sevewal uses. Can anyone name me any?" A show of hands shot into the air, indicating that this was common knowledge, or the whole class had already read the textbook. It turned out that the Flipendo was quite a versatile spell, as Revees had a rather long list of uses on the board at the end of the discussion. He read the completed list out for the class. "Kills small pests, fow example: Gnomes, Fiwe Snails--"  
  
"And younger sisters!" Anthony called out, provoking Lauren to prod him hard in the chest with her wand.  
  
"That's enough, you two," Revees chuckled, "let us continue. Moves objects and switches, bweaks objects open, fow example boxes." The children scribbled down the information on the board as he read out the last of it. Revees drew his wand from his robes and gestured the class to do the same. "The spell has a vewy simple wand motion, I think all of you will be able to pwefowm it." He raised his wand above his shoulder and pointed it behind him. The tip of his wand began glowing a pinkish-white as he thrust it in front of him, chanting, "Flipendo!" A few pupils cried out as a large sparkling ball of red energy whizzed just above their heads and narrowly missed singeing their hair. It collided with the back wall of the classroom with a flash of light and a crashing sound.  
  
The whole room burst into applause and Revees turned as pink as his knockback Jinx. "Now you twy it," he instructed, "and make the 'flip' pawt nice and long." The students poised their wands and Revees realised his mistake a little too late. Before he knew it, twenty-five knockback Jinxes were hurtling towards him. He quickly ducked and swayed to dodge them, but one was too fast for him and caught his knee. Revees grasped his leg with both hands, whimpering a little as he began to hop on the spot, like a great yellow rabbit.  
  
"Oh god, I'm so sorry, Professor!" Lauren apologised, as it was her Flipendo that had come into contact with his leg. Revees smiled reassuringly.  
  
"Don't wowwy about it, I'm okay."  
  
The lesson came to an end all too soon. Revees' students enjoyed making fun of him, but deep down, they all liked him a lot; he was so nice to everyone. He gave the whole class a point to their respective houses for working hard in the lesson. Much to their relief, he didn't give them any homework.  
  
"I don't want to be unfaiw and give you wowk on the fiwst day," he explained. The class were grateful, as the work set by Snape would take painfully long to complete. As Revees dismissed the class, he refused Anthony and Lauren's offer to take him to the Hospital Wing.  
  
The next lesson was Charms, and the class were bubbling over with excitement as they filed into the room. They couldn't wait to learn all the different Charms, today's in particular. The students hushed themselves abruptly as the Charms teacher hobbled into the classroom. Anthony was not exaggerating when he said that he was small; Professor Flitwick was a tiny little wizard with some white hair and a beard. He mounted a pile of thick books that were set before the class so he could now at least see over their desks.  
  
"Hello, I am Professor Flitwick, and I will be teaching you Charms throughout your seven year course at Hogwarts." Professor Flitwick had a rather common voice that sounded similar to Revees', but it was quite a deal easier to understand. "Wingardium Leviosa, the Levitating Charm, is this lesson's topic," he went on to say, adding that it was a very easy Charm with a simple 'swish and flick' motion. He demonstrated the spell on a feather that was set down in front of Anthony. The Charms teacher purposely showed the wand motions a lot slower and exaggerated than they would usually be preformed. He raised his wand parallel to his face and as he spoke the correct words, he swished it down in an arc shape, so it was parallel with the other side of his face. He finished the job with a gentle flick of his wand. Instantly, the feather shot into the air and the pupils gave him some hearty applause. The feather moved in unison with his wand as Flitwick impressed them further with a few tricks, including a thrilling corkscrew and a loop de loop. Whatever his wand did, the feather obediently followed, like a well-trained dog.  
  
After his little demonstration had finished, he let the class try the spell for themselves. Anthony let everyone know that he had a natural flair for Charms. He artistically swished his wand and sounded the incantation perfectly, resulting in the feather fluidly rising into the air. The Professor clapped him on the back. "Oh well done, Mr. Sinclair, very good work indeed. I will award five points to Gryffindor for that performance." Lauren watched Anthony enviously, as he controlled his feather almost effortlessly. For some reason, she lacked the talent for Charms that Anthony had, as she found this simple spell most challenging. She tried to swish and flick her wand, but it jerked out at awkward angles. She concentrated hard, but she just couldn't seem to mentally picture the feather rising into the air. The more she tried, the cloudier her mind became.  
  
"Stupid feather!" she exclaimed, violently swooping her wand from side to side, focusing hard to make the feather move. However, the feather remained steadfast and wouldn't move even a millimetre. Professor Flitwick did his best to help Lauren, but she was just utterly hopeless, and the fact that she wasn't interested in Charms didn't help at all.  
  
"Miss Sinclair, please calm down. I'm sure you will get it soon," Flitwick said, although looking uncertain. "You should make your wand movements a little more gentle, like your brother's are." He gestured towards Anthony who was flying his feather around the room like a Muggle child playing with their remote control aeroplane. Lauren felt a pang of envy, as she returned to working on her own feather. Lauren must have tried a hundred times to get the feather into the air, but to no prevail.  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa! Wingardium Leviosa! Wingardium Leviosa!" she yelled, madly waving her wand about. She stopped suddenly as she saw the feather move over slightly, but realised it was just being blown by the breeze that her robes were creating as she flapped her arm about. Lauren became more and more agitated to the point of her throwing the feather out of the window. "Now it's floating!" she screamed, glaring at Flitwick, "you happy now?"  
  
Lauren stormed out off the classroom slamming the door behind her and charged down to her common room. Leaping into an armchair, she buried her head in her arms and was ready for a good long howl.  
  
"Is that crumpled heap hiding in an armchair Lauren?" asked a familiar voice from nearby. She lifted her head to see Professor Snape gazing down at her. "What are you doing out of lessons?" he continued, "I do hope that you are not playing truant." He then noticed that she looked very hot and bothered and was on the verge of tears. "Is there something the matter?"  
  
"I feel like such an idiot, Professor," she sobbed, her voice cracking. "Everyone in my class can do Wingardium Leviosa except for me!" She collapsed back into the armchair in a fit of angry sobs.  
  
"You shouldn't get so worked up over something as minor as that, Lauren," he replied, attempting some comforting words, "It's not that difficult, is it? I don't think you are trying hard enough."  
  
"It's no use!" she howled, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I tried and tried and tried but the feather didn't even move an inch." She sniffed hard, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "Maybe I just can't do Charms, and I'll fail and fail and they'll send me back to Muggle school, because I'm such a pathetic excuse for a witch," she continued, a hint of paranoia in her voice.  
  
"Oh come, come. Don't be so ridiculous." Professor Snape snapped, "If it is any consolation for you, when I went to school, Charms was not my forte. However, I did not spend my days weeping about it, I simply studied hard and worked to the best of my ability and had no problems." The conversation was now beginning to sound awfully like a parental lecture. Before leaving the room, Professor Snape added, "Now run along before I am forced to take a point from Slytherin," then leaned forward and ruffled her hair. Lauren watched him leave the common room and smiled. For some reason unknown to her, she had a feeling of deja-vu. She felt as if she had a connection with Professor Snape, as if she had met him a long, long time ago.  
  
Sorry if Snape seems a little OOC, but it's the best I could do. I'm no Rowling, you know! I'll try and have chap. 5 up soon, but I'm still working on it.  
  
~Rei 


End file.
